Ezra 3:10-13
Christian Standard Bible
Temple Foundation Completed
10 When the builders had laid the foundation of the Lord’s temple, the priests, dressed in their robes and holding trumpets, and the Levites descended from Asaph,(A) holding cymbals, took their positions to praise the Lord, as King David of Israel had instructed.(B) 11 They sang with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord: “For he is good; his faithful love to Israel endures forever.”(C) Then all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord because the foundation of the Lord’s house had been laid.(D)
12 But many of the older priests, Levites, and family heads, who had seen the first temple, wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this temple,(E) but many others shouted joyfully. 13 The people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shouting from that of the[a] weeping,(F) because the people were shouting so loudly. And the sound was heard far away.
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- 3:13 Lit the people
Ezra 3:10-13
New English Translation
10 When the builders established the Lord’s temple, the priests, ceremonially attired and with their clarions,[a] and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with their cymbals, stood to praise the Lord according to the instructions left by[b] King David of Israel.[c] 11 With antiphonal response they sang,[d] praising and glorifying the Lord:
“For he is good;
his loyal love toward Israel is forever.”
All the people gave a loud[e] shout as they praised the Lord when the temple of the Lord was established. 12 Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders[f]—older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established[g]—were weeping loudly,[h] and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout. 13 People were unable to tell the difference between the sound of joyous shouting and the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people were shouting so loudly[i] that the sound was heard a long way off.
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- Ezra 3:10 sn This was a long, straight, metallic instrument used for signal calls, rather than the traditional ram’s horn (both instruments are typically translated “trumpet” by English versions).
- Ezra 3:10 tn Heb “according to the hands of.”
- Ezra 3:10 sn See Pss 107:1; 118:1, 29; 136:1. Cf. 2 Chr 5:13; 7:3; 20:21.
- Ezra 3:11 tn Heb “they answered.”
- Ezra 3:11 tn Heb “great.”
- Ezra 3:12 tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”
- Ezra 3:12 sn The temple had been destroyed some fifty years earlier by the Babylonians in 586 b.c.
- Ezra 3:12 tn Heb “with a great voice.”
- Ezra 3:13 tn Heb “a great shout.”
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